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Kindle Textbook Rental Service Now Available

Tired of carrying heavy textbooks around? Now some law textbooks are available for rent through Amazon’s Kindle rental service. You don’t even have to own a Kindle to use the service. You can simply download a free Kindle reading app for any of the following: PC, Mac, iPad, iPhone, Android Windows Phone 7, Blackberry or Kindle.

According to Amazon, you can save up to 80% off the list price of the printed version of the textbook. Further, you can typically rent a textbook for between 30 and 360 days. If you begin with the minimum you can always extend your rental for additional days if you’d like and you pay only for the time you need to rent the book. You also get to keep any highlights or notes you make even after the rental period expires.

To find a book, you just search in Amazon’s Textbooks Store and search for the book you want, either by title or by browsing the Law section. Then look in the Formats section to see if a Kindle edition is available for rent and specify your rental dates. Be careful, though, as some Kindle editions are only available for purchase. Make sure you don’t accidentally buy something. Also, before renting, be sure to compare the price of the Kindle rental to that of a new or used print version of the casebook just to make sure you’re getting the best deal.

So far many legal textbooks do not have an electronic version available. However, Amazon’s Kindle rental program is a good start. Hopefully, Amazon will offer more electronic versions of textbooks in the future. For more details about the Kindle rental service, visit Amazon.